Lady Dogs prep for playoffs with convincing win

Published 5:32 pm, Tuesday, February 7, 2012

The Plainview Lady Bulldogs' Bailey Davis (left) is defended by Palo Duro's Jericka Smith during a District 3-4A game Tuesday in the DogHouse.

The Plainview Lady Bulldogs' Bailey Davis (left) is defended by Palo Duro's Jericka Smith during a District 3-4A game Tuesday in the DogHouse.

Photo: Ryan Thurman/For The Herald

Lady Dogs prep for playoffs with convincing win

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Three Plainview Lady Bulldog seniors played their final game in the DogHouse on Tuesday and got a perfect memory to round it out All three seniors had a field goal, and the No. 21 Lady Dogs finished off the regular season with a 61-40 rout of the Palo Duro Lady Dons to give them a nice head of steam headed into the postseason Monday.

And if the Lady Dogs (25-7, 10-4 in District 3-4A) can continue to play like they did Tuesday, they could have a long playoff road in front of them. That's something the three seniors - Laura Castillo, Natalie Tunnell and Veronica Garcia - are expecting.

"We just have to take it one game at a time and prepare hard," Tunnell said.

After narrowly missing a trip to the state tournament last season, Castillo was a little more direct in her postseason expectations.

"I'm looking forward to making a long run, getting to state," Castillo said. "That's it."

The No. 3-seed Lady Dogs will play Wichita Falls Rider, the No. 2 seed from District 4-4A, in a bi-district match-up at 6 p.m. Monday at Vernon High School.

Plainview already was in its playoff mindset Tuesday, and the Lady Dogs showed it with their hair.

Yes, their hair.

The Lady Dogs have always put paw prints with their numbers on their arms at playoff time, but this team felt it needed an extra sign of solidarity specific to them. So they all spent about three hours over the weekend at Karli Wheeler's mother's salon, aptly named Karli's, putting a single blonde stripe in the back of their hair that shows when their hair is up in a ponytail.

"A lot of people doubted us . . . and we decided to get a blonde streak in our hair to show that we believe in ourselves, and we're going to do what we need to," Garcia said. "It just brought us closer together. We were all together for a couple of hours, and we just bonded."

"We probably did as well as we have all year putting a body on people, blocking them out and not letting them get two or three shot opportunities," Plainview head coach Danny Wrenn said of his team's performance Tuesday.

Unlike Plainview's first meeting with the Lady Dons (15-13, 7-7) in Amarillo, which ended with a buzzer-beater by Castillo, the Lady Dogs kept PD at an arm's length the entire night.

After leading the entire game, the Lady Dogs headed into the fourth quarter with a 10-point advantage . . . then turned the defensive pressure up to 11. The Lady Dogs smothered PD and held the Lady Dons to only four points in the final eight minutes.

Castillo led Plainview with 17 points, and Wheeler joined her in double figures with 12. Junior Bailey Davis led the defensive charge with six blocks while also pulling down a game-high eight rebounds.

Sasha Watson led PD with a game-high 19 points, and Haley Bates added 12. The Lady Dons, the No. 4 seed from District 3-4A, will take on Denton Ryan, the 4-4A champion, in bi-district.